When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars in one offseason and still have a roster that elicits a collective “maaaaybe” regarding their odds of competing for a playoff spot, you know that said team is going to have some questions to answer. Well, New York Yankees, what do you have to say for yourselves?
Can this roster stay healthy enough to contend?
As previously mentioned, the Yankees are an old team. They’ll likely have the oldest roster in the majors once Opening Day rosters are set. With old age comes injuries and New York already has enough injury red flags to begin with.
We’ve all heard more than enough on the injury travails of Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira in 2013. It will take some real doing just to keep them healthy enough to survive the season. Add to that soon-to-be-37-year old Carlos Beltran who will need to be carefully managed in order to keep him productive and not much in the way of minor league depth to step in and assume a big role should one of the big players go down to injury. There is only so much that Brendan Ryan, Eduardo Nunez and the shell of Ichiro will be able to provide.
Things aren’t much better in the rotation with Sabathia and Kuroda either getting old and/or dealing with health problems. There are also those who wonder just how Masahiro Tanaka will adapt to pitching every fifth day, especially after a Japanese season in which his arm was abused so heavily.
Every team has to deal with injuries throughout the year, but the Yankees seem particularly vulnerable. There success this year might simply come down to how lucky they can get on the injury front.
Are the Yankees actually done spending?
The Yankees threw a ton of money into free agency this winter, landing Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka. The thing though is that they still have some real holes on their roster. They have a platoon over at third base and somehow find themselves relying on Brian Roberts to hold down second base. Their bullpen is basically David Robertson and Joe Girardi crossing his fingers that a collection of no-names can somehow get the lead to him.
That just doesn’t sound like a very Yankee-like situation. There isn’t much they can do via free agency (though Stephen Drew taking over at second or third isn’t the worst idea), but the trade market will open up by mid-season. Could the Yanks go hog wild then?
They don’t exactly have a great minor league system to make blockbuster trades, but a lot can get done via trade if you are willing to absorb money. That seems like a pretty viable path since they have long since waved bye-bye to their luxury tax concerns. Of course, going this route means that they need to survive long enough to still be in contention by the time the trade market opens up.
How good can Masahiro Tanaka be?
There are a few inside baseball that think Tanaka can be ace on the same level, or better, than countryman Yu Darvish. There are a lot more that think the Tanaka is going to just be a #2 or maybe even a #3 starter. That’s big a difference for the Yankees.
What they paid for was for Tanaka to be a legitimate stud, or something awfully close to that. They paid that much because, well, they are the Yankees and they can, but also because they desperately need him to be that good. As we’ve mentioned ad nauseam in this series, this team is old and starting to decay, especially at the front of the rotation. There are legitimate fears that CC Sabathia’s best day are long gone and that Hiroki Kuroda might be nearing the end of the line as well. The only way that the Yankees can revitalize their rotation and get back into contention is if Tanaka emerges as a frontline pitcher. Sure, he’d be of help to them as a quality #3 starter, but that isn’t going to push the Yanks over the top. What the Yankees really can’t afford though is for Tanaka to continue the grand tradition of Hideki Irabu or Kei Igawa.
